Mercedes-Benz built a Super Mario Maker course for some reason

Super Mario Maker is getting a new patch December 21 that introduces a number of new items that the franchise has never seen before. Mario, the plump Italian plumber with a full-grown moustache, big nose, red cap and blue overalls, is the reason why most of us took to gaming as kids.With a large dose of nostalgia, event course called Mercedes-Benz Jump’n’Drive will be delivered with a special costume for players to unlock at no additional charge. But things are about to get better very soon: next week Nintendo is introducing a new web portal that lets you find levels from your computer or phone.

The Mercedes-Benz Event Course takes players through a variety of automotive-related areas, including being at the dealership, taking a test drive through a city and eventually cruising down the autobahn. The best thing about the site is that it works in a browser on your desktop, tablet, or smartphone, so you don’t need to run over and power up your Wii U to trade with your buddies.

Better yet, you’ll be able to flag those primo levels from whatever device you’re working with — they’ll appear in the Course World tab so you don’t have to worry about finding your favorite works all over again. Introduced as ‘Jumpman’ by Nintendo’s Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto in Donkey Kong, Mario went on to feature in his own eponymous game in 1985. Nintendo first revealed the portal in a Nintendo Direct livestream last November, where they also confirmed that players have crafted over 3.3 million levels since the game’s launch. These new maps, Piranha Pit and Ancho-V Games, will continue the game’s recent trend of introducing stages with unique gimmicks, with the former sporting large conveyer belts and the latter featuring platforms that can be raised by shooting ink into fans. What makes the tool really useful, though, is that you can queue up any interesting levels you find and then play them when you’re back in front of your console.

While the hero usually battles aliens, turtles and minions while attempting to rescue Princess Peach in Mushroom Kingdom, along with his younger brother Luigi, the plumber has appeared in over 200 games, including kart racing, sports and educational versions, apart from the platform series making Mario the best-selling video game franchise of all time. It wasn’t as engaging as the experience of the gaming console.” He affirms that almost all the gamers he knows got introduced to gaming through Mario. “We’ve all hunted electronic stores together buying cassettes and trading them.” Venkat adds that while the new versions are great, he believes nothing beats the classics. “The gameplay is the most engaging in its original form. There’s currently no ETA from Nintendo for when these maps will be released, but given that the Big N’s plan is to continue Splatoon’s free DLC drip-feeding until January, it’s safe to bet that they’ll be added to the map rotation within a few weeks. Course pages will display infuriating World Record completion times, and designers get new items like bumpers, P Warp Doors and a Fire Koopa Clown Car (“capable of shooting fireballs as well as a powerful charged shot that can even destroy Blocks”) for even more effective trolling. If that video and its dancing squid-kids isn’t enough to slate your appetite, you can see more of the new maps on the official Splatoon Tumblr page, which also notes that there will be some server maintenance going on today from 4:50 PM to 6:00 PM PT.

Anurag Saxena, a senior consultant at an insurance firm and a diehard gamer, affirms Mario was the first game he played as a kid. “I had this little master video game console and so did my neighbour. He’s my oldest friend right now.” While he’s played Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros, he admits the classic Super Mario Bros was the best. “I grew up on it. Mario was pure and easily the best.” For 18-year-old architecture student and avid gamer Tushar Ganesh, it was curiosity that led him to the game. “The reason I started playing it was because I’ve heard a lot about how it helped introduce gaming to the world. We hope that Nintendo eventually builds on its world-records feature to give you a leaderboard of just your friends’ times, because I doubt I’m going to chart when it comes to the best on Earth. Mario version where you need to throw vitamins to destroy viruses and save the world.” Venkat Ram, a software engineer in Chennai, recalls his father getting him the gaming console with the 99-games cassette, of which Mario was his favourite. “Mario was one of the first games I played.

A writer, journalist, and aspiring storyteller, Peter Grimm has been gaming since the days of the Nintendo 64, and reporting on the goings-on in the World of Gaming since late 2011.